penn state schreyer thesis database

Lend Your Expertise Thesis Roles & Responsibilities

The thesis is the culmination of honors education at Penn State, so being part of a Scholar's thesis committee is a particularly important role. While some faculty have assisted Scholars with honors theses before and are familiar with the roles and responsibilities, others may not know that undergraduate theses even exist until a student asks them to participate. The following information has been prepared to assist you in serving on a student's thesis committee.

Thesis Supervisor

Thesis supervisors are selected by Scholars and judge the merits of a Scholar’s honors thesis. The relationship between supervisor and Scholar is integral to the ultimate success of the thesis.

Your Decision

Thesis expectations, other participants, writing quality, irb/iacuc approvals, publication embargoes.

As with the graduate thesis, honors thesis supervision may involve only intellectual and editorial mentoring, or it may bring the student into your scholarly work and its physical setting in the lab and/or in the field. The first scenario may be lower-impact for you as thesis supervisor, but it requires specific commitment (from both you and the student) to stay in touch throughout the project. When the student is part of your scholarly work, the challenge (as with graduate students and postdocs) is to integrate them while carving out a project that is sufficiently their own. While it is common in these cases to delegate daily supervisory responsibility over the student to an advanced graduate student or postdoc, please remember that actual thesis supervision should not be delegated. Any non-adjunct faculty member who has the thesis honors adviser's approval — on behalf of the department — is able to serve as a thesis supervisor.

Thesis supervision is time-intensive, especially at a time of the year (middle and end of spring semester) when faculty have many competing demands on their time. When deciding whether or not to accept the thesis supervisor role, please consider the entire timeline. You are entitled to require intermediate deadlines, and an earlier deadline for the final draft, to accommodate your schedule, but this should be agreed upon before any commitment about thesis supervision is finalized. There are four procedural deadlines set by the Honors College in the thesis process — thesis proposal, thesis check-in, thesis format review, and final submission — but these are not a substitute for deadlines set between thesis supervisor and student for progress along the way. In particular, you and the thesis honors adviser (see below) must receive the final draft well in advance of the submission deadline, so your required or suggested changes can be incorporated. You must be available to sign the thesis cover page prior to the submission deadline, or to otherwise convey your approval to the Schreyer Honors College pending your signature.

In an age of electronic communication, it is tempting to commit to thesis supervision even if you won't be on campus for much of the time, because of sabbatical or other planned absence. Our experience is that these scenarios, while usually successful, present a higher risk of difficulties and even non-completion. While we appreciate the willingness of faculty to consider thesis supervision while on sabbatical or leave, please consider your best interests and those of the student before making the commitment.

If you are on the tenure track, please consult with your department before making a commitment to supervise an honors thesis. Again, we appreciate your willingness to consider thesis supervision, but by making a fully informed decision you are looking out for the student's interest and your own.

Following Graduate School guidelines, faculty who are retired or emeritus at the time of the thesis proposal may not supervise honors theses. Faculty who will move to retired or emeritus status over the course of the thesis process (after submission of the proposal) may supervise theses, with the approval of the department via the thesis honors adviser (see below), but this is a serious commitment that you should not make unless you are absolutely willing to fulfill the role with the same level of commitment as currently-employed faculty. The Honors College reserves the right to review any proposal along these lines.

Schreyer Scholars as a group are among the most capable undergraduates at Penn State or anywhere else, and may even be superior to many graduate students in terms of raw ability, but they are still undergraduates. This, and our expectation that Schreyer Scholars graduate on-time rather than staying on solely for thesis work, should be taken into account in determining whether the initial thesis proposal is appropriate, and whether the final submission is acceptable.

While the SHC is in no position to set standards about thesis quality or the pace of thesis work in most cases, we have encouraged colleges and individual departments to develop thesis guides that convey local expectations to students and thesis supervisors. More generally, we convey to students that the honors thesis is public and forever: it's in the Penn State Libraries online catalog, and housed in a special full-text database . We likewise tell students that while it’s useful to look at past theses in their area on that database, any given thesis might have been barely adequate and therefore not a good aspirational goal; they should instead look at several theses, and as thesis supervisor you may want to refer students to theses you consider examples of high-quality work.

While the thesis is primarily between the student and the thesis supervisor, there is one other significant formal role. The thesis honors adviser must approve the initial thesis proposal and the final thesis submission. Unlike the thesis supervisor, the thesis honors adviser has a pre-existing Schreyer Honors College role as honors adviser, someone who works with Schreyer Scholars on a regular basis to guide their overall academic progress. Sometimes a student proposes thesis work for honors outside his or her primary major; in these cases the student should contact the Academic Affairs Office for guidance.

The role of the thesis honors adviser, at the beginning and end of the process, is to serve as a “second set of eyes” to guarantee the adequacy of the student’s work. More specifically, the thesis honors adviser is the gatekeeper for the “area of honors” that all theses must have; a thesis might be impressive, but it might not have enough history or biomedical engineering or finance, in terms of content, sources, and methods, to justify the required “Honors in -----“ on the transcript and diploma. In general, this is a pro forma matter since as thesis supervisor you are mindful of disciplinary expectations, but in some cases you might be supervising a thesis to be submitted for an area of honors that isn’t quite your own. Note that a student may have more than one area of honors for a thesis, in which case the thesis proposal and final submission must be approved by one thesis honors adviser in each area (a thesis may have only one thesis supervisor). Also, it sometimes happens that you are both thesis supervisor and thesis honors adviser, especially in smaller departments. In that case, you and the student should agree upon a tenure-line faculty member in your department to serve as “Reader,” in effect an ad hoc thesis honors adviser.

Typically the thesis honors adviser does not work with the student throughout the process as the thesis supervisor does, but he or she should have ample time to review the final draft and suggest (or, if appropriate, demand) changes before approving the thesis. The SHC has recently asked thesis honors advisers to take a somewhat greater role in keeping tabs on thesis progress, but not to the point of diluting the all-important relationship between the student and thesis supervisor.

We expect Schreyer Scholars entering their final year to write well enough to make themselves understood according to disciplinary standards, and except for areas of honors where style is integral to overall value of the work (the clearest example would be a creative writing submission for honors in English), we suggest that you place a premium on content and clarity. You should require a relatively early installment of written work, most commonly the literature review, to get an early indication of any issues with the student’s writing. If you see problems but you’re not eager to work with them in that capacity — which we don’t consider a core responsibility of thesis supervision — please keep in mind that there are resources at Penn State starting with the Writing Center , so please refer students there. Campuses outside University Park should all have local resources for writing improvement.

While most theses proceed relatively smoothly, every year the SHC’s Academic Affairs Office is made aware of several cases where they don’t, and we assume there are other cases that we’re not aware of. Sometimes the student simply lacks the commitment (or, less commonly, the ability) to complete the project adequately, while sometimes the thesis supervisor has unreasonable expectations derived from graduate thesis supervision (see above, “Thesis Expectations”). Sometimes it’s just a personality conflict, which is why we remind students to look at compatibility and not just expertise when choosing to a thesis supervisor. Likewise, you should feel empowered to say no to a student if you have doubts about them, although we suggest that you consult with their honors adviser so you’re not making a snap decision.

If the final draft requires, in your opinion, significant revisions especially with regard to core chapters (as opposed to introduction and conclusion), this suggests insufficient communication throughout the process. There are no ideal solutions at this point — it’s unrealistic for the student to make significant changes with limited time, but a thesis that doesn’t meet legitimate quality standards can’t be approved — so our goal is to make these situations as rare as possible. While it is permissible for students to defer graduation, most commonly from May to August, solely to complete the thesis, that is not an option for many students. We present these scenarios to you to convey the importance of avoiding them!

The financial viability of honors thesis research and creative activity across the University depends on most students either not having significant expenses, or having those expenses met within their department or lab: either through actual funding (money to the student) or through the department or lab assuming the expenses. The SHC has very limited resources to fund students in their thesis work, and our preference is to devote those resources to truly independent projects that aren’t integrated into ongoing (and funded) labs. Please consider, jointly with the student, what kind of resources the proposed thesis will require, whether materials, testing, travel, compensation to survey respondents, or anything else; also consider what the funding options are, whether from your resources or elsewhere.

The Schreyer Honors College does ask, in the thesis proposal, whether the proposed work requires IRB or IACUC review and whether approval has been granted. However, we are not in a position to make those determinations, or to follow up about them. As thesis supervisor you have principal responsibility for your student’s adherence to the letter and spirit of Penn State and outside requirements in this regard.

As noted above, theses are “published” online with the University Libraries. The SHC is willing to delay that process by up to two years if there is a patent or publication pending; we will not delay for proprietary or classified material, which should not be included in the thesis.

Thesis Honors Adviser

The thesis is the culmination of honors education at Penn State, and while the thesis supervisor is the principal faculty role in the thesis process, the thesis honors adviser is very important at two key moments — the thesis proposal and the final thesis submission.

Permanent Role

Situational role, overall role, grading the thesis, different advisers, honors in a graduate area.

The permanent (i.e. in all cases) role of the thesis honors adviser is to review the thesis proposal and final thesis submission for:

• Overall quality
• Specific fulfillment of the disciplinary expectations for a thesis in the major

The thesis honors adviser is the gatekeeper, on behalf of the major, for what “With Honors in [major]” means. We distinguish between these two judgments, overall and specific, because a thesis might be an impressive piece of work but not sufficiently reflective of the field for which it’s submitted for honors. That is one reason why scrutiny of the thesis proposal is especially important.

Note: For purposes of this discussion, “major” is shorthand for “area of honors” which may be a major, a uniquely-named minor, or a uniquely-named graduate program. These situations are discussed below.

When reviewing the thesis proposal, you are also reviewing the appropriateness of the proposed thesis supervisor. Only tenure-line faculty, or equivalently credentialed and experienced non-tenure-line faculty, may supervise honors theses. If you have doubts or concerns, please contact the Academic Affairs Office .

Additionally, the thesis honors adviser is responsible for monitoring thesis progress by periodically consulting with the Scholar and the thesis supervisor. If the major does not have a uniform calendar for thesis progress, as part of its thesis guide, the thesis honors adviser should set expectations for each thesis writer in consultation with the thesis supervisor. As you can see, it is far preferable to establish a uniform calendar via a thesis guide available to all students! Early in the final semester, the thesis honors adviser should specifically consult with the Scholar and thesis supervisor about the timeline for submission of the final draft, and the thesis supervisor should be specifically asked about any travel plans, grant deadlines, or other issues that might complicate the successful culmination of the thesis. Likewise, the thesis honors adviser should look at his or her own commitments later in the semester.

The thesis honors adviser should exercise special vigilance in those cases where the Scholar’s day-to-day thesis work takes place under delegated rather than direct supervision, for instance in a lab where the student interacts more with graduate students and postdocs. On the other end of the spectrum, in humanities fields where the student is working independently for long periods, the thesis honors adviser should follow up to ensure that the student is in contact with the thesis supervisor.

Our website has important information about the thesis: what we tell our students about it, and what they say about it. In particular, our thesis guides are our official guidance about the thesis process. While it is written for students, we invite you to review it since it discusses what students can legitimately expect from their thesis experience.

The situational role of the thesis honors adviser is to mediate any conflicts between the Scholar and the thesis supervisor. While the Schreyer Honors College, specifically the Associate Dean, is willing to participate in these discussions and should be made aware of any problems, the thesis honors adviser as a faculty colleague is best-positioned to handle conflicts without escalating the situation further.

For both of these roles, it is important that the thesis honors adviser possess a solid understanding of the expectations for an undergraduate honors thesis in the major. In some cases the thesis supervisor, because of a lack of experience working with undergraduates or because of excessive expectations about honors students, has graduate-level expectations for the thesis; while this is a legitimate aspirational goal in many areas, it is by definition an inappropriate standard for approving or rejecting a completed thesis. At the other end of the spectrum, the thesis supervisor might have unacceptably lax standards, or might wish to get out of a bad situation by approving a substandard final product. In both cases the thesis honors adviser’s role is to enforce appropriate standards, although we recognize that there is no way to require a thesis supervisor to sign something that he or she refuses to sign.

The best and only way to minimize all of these problems, whether substantive (about thesis progress or quality) or logistical (availability to review and approve), is for the thesis honors adviser to enforce clear expectations from the outset (thesis proposal), and throughout the process. This is much easier when there is a departmental or college thesis guide, so if your unit doesn’t yet have one, please consider writing one in consultation with your departmental colleagues and (if desired) the SHC.

Note: Many majors assign professional advisers as lower-division honors advisers, and many majors assign non-tenure-line faculty as upper-division honors advisers. Thesis honors advising is, by rule and by common sense, always a faculty role. Scholars must be reassigned from professional to faculty honors advisers no later than the start of third year. Non-tenure-line faculty may serve as upper-division honors advisers, and therefore as thesis honors advisers, only with the approval of the SHC Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Because the thesis honors adviser must deal with the thesis supervisor from a position of equal authority and without fear of repercussions (beyond the inevitable awkwardness), only the most senior and research-accomplished non-tenure-line faculty will be approved for upper-division honors advising.

The thesis itself is not graded, but the SHC would like all theses to carry between 3 and 6 graded credits of honors independent research credits (typically 494H though there is still some variation across departments). In most departments the instructor of record for thesis credits is the thesis supervisor, but in some departments there is a single instructor of record for all thesis credits and that person consults with thesis supervisors to determine the grade. As with any other course, this is a departmental rather than SHC function.

There are times when a Scholar's thesis honors adviser is not the same as their regular honors adviser. This can happen when the student:

• Has concurrent majors and seeks honors in a major that's not where they receive honors advising
• Seeks honors in their minor
• Seeks honors in an area in which they're neither majoring nor minoring

What all three scenarios have in common is that the thesis honors adviser may have no prior association with the student, so it is the student’s responsibility to consult with the would-be thesis honors adviser before submitting the thesis proposal. This is both a professional courtesy and a practical necessity, because there are limits to the student’s right to pursue honors in any area:

First-Year Entering Scholars

First-year entering Scholars may pursue honors in any area they’re majoring in, as long as they follow the major’s prescribed preparation for thesis writers.

Scholars Enrolling After the First Year

Scholars who join the Honors College in their second or third year may only pursue honors in the major for which they were admitted to the Honors College, unless they secure the permission of the honors adviser (in multi-adviser majors, the designated lead honors adviser) in the would-be area. The Honors College knows from experience that some majors are willing to grant this change while others are not, but we always direct student inquiries to the appropriate honors adviser. If the change is granted, this must be communicated directly from the appropriate honors adviser to the College’s advising coordinator so the change can be made in our system before the student files the thesis proposal.

Regardless of how they entered the Honors College, Scholars proposing a thesis for honors in a major that’s not their own, or a minor (whether their own or not), should consult with the appropriate honors adviser before committing to the thesis project with a thesis supervisor. Local policies about non-majors pursuing honors vary by department, and while the Honors College claims no role in these policies, we believe that “unique minors” (those without a matching major, like Global Health) should offer honors to Scholars pursuing that minor. For minors that are reduced versions of majors (like Economics or Physics), it should depend on the individual student and on the “carrying capacity” of the department’s faculty and facilities.

The SHC recognizes “majors, minors, and graduate programs” as valid areas of honors for the thesis, and there are a handful of graduate programs that may come up, because they have no similarly-named major or minor. For students pursuing an Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate degree (IUG) and who submit a single thesis at the master’s level to satisfy both graduate degree and undergraduate honors requirements, the undergraduate area of honors can be either the undergraduate major or the graduate program, if differently named and more appropriate. (After all, the student is concurrently receiving the graduate degree.) For non-IUG students pursuing solely an undergraduate degree, the SHC encourages graduate program directors to permit honors and act as thesis honors advisers (or to designate one) only if there is no appropriate undergraduate area and the student has some degree of appropriate coursework (though not necessarily at the 500 level) in the field. Sometimes students seek out the graduate area because it is slightly more specific or impressive-sounding, but we remind them that the title of the thesis conveys that.

The Schreyer Integrated Undergraduate Graduate program allowed me to pursue a master’s degree while finishing my bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. Extending my commitment to research allowed me to confirm my desire for a career as a physician scientist. Alison Roby ' 18 Bioengineering

Your Journey As a Scholar Starts Here Apply as a First-Year Student for Fall 2025

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Eddie Glaude, Jr., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University will present Race and Democracy: America is Always Changing, but America Never Changes.

Through the Years History & Traditions

Learn about the rich history of the Schreyer Honors College — with stories and milestones that build upon what Penn State has done for nearly two centuries.

What Sets Us Apart The Schreyer Advantage

Receive an outstanding honors education at a top-tier public research university. Supercharge your education at Penn State and become a Scholar in the Schreyer Honors College.

A Community of Inspired Leaders

Learn about how our Scholars live, learn, and lead in the classroom, their communities, and around the world.

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45+ countries visited by scholars, the latest from schreyer news & events, scholar and track star serving as a resource for young athletes august 17, 2021, $3 million estate gift to promote research, belonging and academic excellence aug 8, 2024, new faculty offered opportunities to enhance teaching with technology practices jul 26, 2024, yuki yoshida selected as eberly college of science summer 2024 student marshal jul 23, 2024, liberal arts alumna finds post-graduation success through bioethics program jun 20, 2024, upcoming events, sho time (new scholar orientation), donuts with the dean, career fair prep workshop, academic deadlines, fall 2024 classes begin, schreyer plan opens (new scholars only), thesis check-in for fall 2024 graduates, graduation activation.

With their small size and engaging professors, the hallmark feature of honors classes is being able to facilitate the deeper and more meaningful learning of course material in an intimate setting. Having that personal feedback in an environment that promotes asking questions has been very formative in my education. Hannah Lombardo ' 20 Science BS/MBA

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Your Journey As a Scholar Starts Here Apply as a First-Year Student for Fall 2025

December 2 (11:59 PM EST) is the deadline to apply to the Schreyer Honors College for admission for Fall 2025.

Thursday, September 26, 2024 Dilemmas of Democracy

Eddie Glaude, Jr., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University will present Race and Democracy: America is Always Changing, but America Never Changes.

Through the Years History & Traditions

Learn about the rich history of the Schreyer Honors College — with stories and milestones that build upon what Penn State has done for nearly two centuries.

What Sets Us Apart The Schreyer Advantage

Receive an outstanding honors education at a top-tier public research university. Supercharge your education at Penn State and become a Scholar in the Schreyer Honors College.

A Community of Inspired Leaders

Learn about how our Scholars live, learn, and lead in the classroom, their communities, and around the world.

40% of Schreyer Scholars study abroad

$7.4m+ in grants and scholarships awarded to scholars, the latest from schreyer news & events.

Scholar and Track Star Serving as a Resource for Young Athletes August 17, 2021

$3 million estate gift to promote research, belonging and academic excellence aug 8, 2024, new faculty offered opportunities to enhance teaching with technology practices jul 26, 2024, yuki yoshida selected as eberly college of science summer 2024 student marshal jul 23, 2024, liberal arts alumna finds post-graduation success through bioethics program jun 20, 2024, upcoming events, sho time (new scholar orientation), donuts with the dean, career fair prep workshop, academic deadlines, fall 2024 classes begin, schreyer plan opens (new scholars only), thesis check-in for fall 2024 graduates, graduation activation.

The honors women's studies class I'm taking right now is phenomenal. Every day I go to the class is really eye-opening. I don't know if I would have gotten that experience without being in Schreyer. Tara Golthi ' 20 Media Studies

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WRITING AN HONORS THESIS IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Updated January 2022

Honors English students, following Schreyer Honors College requirements, compose a thesis of significant scholarly research or creative writing. The thesis is completed in close consultation with a thesis supervisor during the semester before the student’s graduation semester, while the student is enrolled in English 494H.

In the graduation semester, students polish and submit their theses for approval by the thesis supervisor and the honors advisor and then submit them to Schreyer Honors College. Dates of final submission vary; please consult your honors advisor and the Schreyer website .

An Honors Thesis in English

An English honors thesis in scholarly research and interpretation should be an ambitious, well-researched, in-depth study focused on a topic chosen by the student in consultation with the thesis supervisor.

An English honors thesis in creative writing should be a sophisticated and well-crafted creative project written in consultation with the thesis supervisor, a project that demonstrates the student’s increasing proficiency of their chosen creative genre(s).

The Critical/Literary Studies Thesis

A critical / literary studies thesis might arise from a range of possibilities: a course paper you would like to extend; an interest you were unable to pursue in class; a connection between two classes that you’ve made on your own; an author, set of works, or theme you want to explore in greater depth; a critical question that has been puzzling you; a body of literature that you want to contextualize; a topic relevant to post-graduate plans (e.g., law school, graduate school, marketing career, writing career, and so forth). Consider also your skill sets, your workload and experiences, and the timeline for completion. The questions you’re asking should be open to productive analysis, questions worth asking.

The topic should challenge you, so that you’re neither summarizing nor skimming the surface of the primary and secondary work under consideration. Chapters within the thesis should build upon each other and connect to an overarching theme or argument. The thesis should be as clear and concise as possible. Make sure the argument is structured, with each chapter and each paragraph having a clear role to play in the development of the argument.

Because the thesis is a scholarly product, it will demonstrate good research skills and effective use of secondary readings. It will also be grammatically correct. Your work will be entering existing critical conversations with other scholarship, so your research should be sufficiently completed prior to your finalizing the thesis plan. Your work should have properly formatted notes and bibliography, whether in Chicago, MLA, or APA style.

Note length stipulations: Honors theses in critical / literary studies may be as short as 8,000 words but no longer than 15,000 words. If the thesis is shorter or longer than these advised limits, explain your thinking and decision-making in the introduction of your thesis.

The Creative Thesis

The creative thesis will be an innovative, stylistically sophisticated work, attentive to language and voice. The work should develop a sustained narrative or theme. Most students who write creative theses produce a collection of short stories or personal essays, a novella, a memoir, a research-based piece of creative nonfiction or a collection of poems. It is very, very difficult to write a novel in one semester, so unless you already have a novel underway, writing a novel is probably not a realistic thesis project. Creative works should be unified (by theme, by topic, or in some other way).

Students should already have taken a 200-level creative writing workshop in the chosen genre(s) and a 300- or 400-level workshop in this same genre(s). (You can be signed up to take the 400-level workshop in 494H semester.) Ideally, students will have studied creative writing with the faculty member who will serve as supervisor, but note that this is a suggestion and not a requirement. Schedule an initial meeting with your prospective thesis supervisor to discuss your plans for the execution of your creative work.

Note this requirement! Creative works will offer an introductory reflective essay (five to eight pages) outlining the project’s aims and placing the project into the context of the style and/or themes of work by other authors. The introductory reflection should address how your creative project complements or challenges work done by others. It should 1) explain the goals of the project and 2) place it into the context of relevant creative or critical texts. Any works referred to in this essay should be documented using Chicago, MLA, of APA style.

Note length stipulations: Honors theses in creative writing may be as short as 8,000 words but no longer than 15,000 words. If the thesis is shorter or longer than these advised limits, explain your thinking and decision-making in the introductory reflective essay. 

The Thesis Supervisor

Schreyer Honors College requires thesis proposals to be submitted in early April of the year before graduation. For this reason, you must have a thesis supervisor by March, so that you can draft your proposal under the supervisor’s direction.

The first step in finding a thesis supervisor is having a meeting with your honors advisor in order to talk through your thesis interests. When identifying a thesis supervisor, consider professors with whom you have a good rapport; professors whose creative or scholarly interests seem like they might dovetail with your own; professors willing to oversee experimental work. You do not need an exact match with any given professor’s work or interests. For instance, a professor’s methodology might fit yours, even if the focus of their research differs.

Before approaching a potential thesis supervisor, meet with your honors advisor to confirm that this would be an appropriate fit for you. After meeting with your honors advisor, you will be making an appointment to meet with the potential thesis supervisor. During that meeting, you will offer some plans with concrete ideas. Be open-minded. Be prepared to listen to alternatives. Discuss the professor’s willingness to supervise the thesis. (Sometimes faculty are already committed to other projects.) If a faculty member cannot agree to supervise, use the opportunity to ask for further suggestions about your topic and a potentially appropriate supervisor, then check back in with your honors advisor.

Crafting the Thesis Proposal

For students graduating in the spring semester of any given year, thesis proposals are due in early April of the prior year. As with other deadlines, the Schreyer Honors College will prompt you to complete the thesis proposal form on the SRS site. Start planning the thesis as soon as a supervisor has been identified. Look at other proposals and at completed theses for good models. Read one or two award-winning theses to get a sense of the scope and depth of a successful thesis: < https://honors.libraries.psu.edu/catalog >.

Critical / literary studies thesis proposals will articulate the questions being asked, identify the primary and secondary materials to be used, and hypothesize about a general argument to be made. You might not have specified your conclusions yet, but a well formulated set of questions is key.

Creative thesis proposals will identify the genre(s) of writing, identify the writing method and approach, and situate the work within the critical context of that genre.

Both kinds of theses require, at the proposal stage, a bibliography (in standard documentation format) of sources consulted. This will reveal how your project is in conversation with other relevant work.

Once you have drafted the thesis proposal, consult with your proposed thesis supervisor and your honors advisor, allowing them sufficient time to offer suggestions. Do not submit a proposal without getting the approval of your thesis supervisor and honors advisor! Expect to get feedback on your plans. Give your thesis supervisor and your honors advisor time to respond to your proposal draft, because it’s complicated to make changes once you submit the form for them to sign off on.

Planning the Project

One semester prior to the ENGL 494 semester, consult with your thesis supervisor to develop a reading list to be completed before you start writing. For theses written in the fall (for May graduation), this will be summer reading; for theses written in the spring (for December graduation), this reading will have to be compacted over the holiday break.

For critical / literary studies theses, read in both primary (the literature, films, authors, or evidence you are analyzing) and secondary materials (articles and books about your topic).

For creative theses , read primary texts in your chosen genre, along with such secondary sources as reviews of these works and articles and books about writing and the writer’s life.

Finding primary materials. The primary materials you’re using should extend beyond what you’ve done in classwork, but do not take on too much. In the end, the quality of the analysis matters much more than pages generated. If you can sustain an analysis of a single novel for fifty pages, offer a thorough account of the secondary criticism on that novel and make a real contribution to that criticism. Note, however, that a twenty-five page plot summary of a single novel is not worthy of honors in English.

Finding secondary materials. Look for important secondary studies offering fresh and provocative approaches to your topic or genre as well as studies that articulate the relationship between your topic and general literary history.

Library and internet databases will assist your work . Library databases of both primary and secondary writings can assist your background research. Think flexibly about useful keywords for searching databases. Also, consider using the resources found in the notes of scholars whose work you have discovered. Using other scholars’ resources will assist your work in identifying pertinent additional primary and secondary sources. If two or three very current articles cite the same older work, you have probably found a foundational critical study.

Look into possible grants to assist your work. Schreyer Research Grants, Erickson Grants, and Liberal Arts Enrichment Grants are available. Consult with the Schreyer Honors College about summer research funding, research travel funding, and other ways to support ambitious research projects. Erickson grants and Liberal Arts Enrichment Grants are available to rising seniors who will incur expenses for their research. If you are a Paterno Fellow, ask the fellows assistant if grants might be available to assist your work. Also consult this link: https://la.psu.edu/beyond-the-classroom/research/

Preliminary Research/Writing and the 494H Semester

During the semester and/or break before the 494H semester, set a rigorous schedule for reading and note-taking. Of course, you will continue to read while you are writing during that semester. But concentrate now on getting the foundation for what you want to say.

Work on developing connections and ideas across your readings. Take the time to take notes! As you continue reading, you might find that your ideas and goals change. That’s a success! Be aware that if your original idea isn’t going anywhere, you need to keep pushing to find a new idea. If your sources aren’t helping you develop new ideas, find new sources.

Try putting findings or notes or creative materials into a preliminary outline of your thesis chapters, so that you can construct a fuller outline before you formally start writing during the 494H semester. Writing is a form of thinking, so start writing and see where your ideas go. Drafting helps refine both ideas and purpose.

Keep in contact with your thesis supervisor. You can use email for this, or zoom, if your professor prefers. Let your supervisor know about how your reading is going and any new ideas you have.

Strategies for success in the 494H semester

Remember you are getting three honors course credits for ENGL 494, so treat this time commitment seriously! Three credits total 135 hours, so use your time wisely. Incorporate time into your schedule for the multiple drafts of each section.

Set aside time each week for your thesis preparation and writing.

Plan to meet with your thesis supervisor on a regular basis (every other week is typical) throughout the semester. Set up a schedule and keep to it. Remember that the thesis supervisor has agreed to help you with your work, so respect your supervisor’s time. Don’t miss meetings or have nothing to show. Set deadlines for the submission of each chapter with your thesis supervisor.

Be responsible: Aim to allow your supervisor two weeks to read and respond to your written work. Be in regular communication with your thesis supervisor. Also, don’t make your thesis supervisor or the honors advisors track you down. Arrive at meetings promptly. If the honors advisor or thesis supervisor drops you a line by email, answer it promptly. Even if – especially if – you fall behind, stay in communication with thesis supervisor and with the honors advisor.

Remember that advice is given to you to help you improve. Listen to your thesis supervisor’s advice and suggestions. If your honors advisor, your second reader, offers suggestions, listen to these suggestions, too! Follow the advice or else respond in a mature and informed way. If you disagree with suggestions offered you, or if you wish to go in another direction, initiate a fruitful dialogue with your supervisor or honors advisor about the project. Let your supervisor and honors advisor know that you are listening.

The Graded Thesis Draft Submitted During the 494H Semester

A complete draft of your thesis is due at the end of the 494H semester.

The thesis supervisor evaluates your consistent progress toward completion, your regular communication about your work, and your effort to acknowledge and use the supervisor’s feedback. Your supervisor is the one who determines your grade, even though the honors advisors are the professors of record for the 494H course. Remember that the grade for 494H evaluates your draft, not the final thesis.

The grade for 494H evaluates the student in the following areas: 1) consistent progress in thesis planning, research, and writing; 2) regular communication with the thesis supervisor through the 494H semester; 3) attention, in revision, to the supervisor’s advice. Thesis supervisors will take into account any additional expectations particular to a thesis topic, the ambition and originality of the developing project, and, in the case of critical / literary theses, the student’s growing skills in employing secondary sources in original ways.

Revision and Submission of Thesis

The final thesis is due according to the Schreyer Honors College’s deadline, near the middle of the student’s final semester. The Schreyer Honors College’s deadlines are firm. The first Schreyer deadline is for formatting approval. Students are responsible for making sure to follow the most up-to-date formatting and submission guidelines on the Schreyer website. See the guidelines: shc.psu.edu/academic/thesis/formatting.cfm

At the time the thesis is submitted to Schreyer for format approval, submit the final draft to your thesis supervisor and honors advisor. The honors advisor might require revisions concerning the clarity of presentation to non-specialist readers, grammar and usage errors, and so forth. You must have the approval of your supervisor and your honors advisor for your thesis to be approved by Schreyer, so be sure to take seriously the feedback offered at this point.

The second Schreyer deadline is for final submission, at which point your thesis supervisor and your honors advisor must approve your thesis. Follow the Schreyer guidelines for submitting the final version of your thesis and getting the digital signatures of approval from your thesis supervisor and your honors advisor.

For questions, please contact the English Honors Advisers .

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Honors Thesis Guide

The steps below will help you plan for and write your Honors Thesis. An Honors Thesis is required for all students in the Schreyer Honors College (SHC) in order to graduate with honors.

Learn about thesis requirements

Read carefully the information about the Honors Thesis on the Schreyer Honors College website. 

Talk to your CSD Honors Adviser

Talk to your CSD Honors Adviser as soon as you can after becoming a Scholar in CSD. Your adviser can tell you about research opportunities in the Department of CSD, and give you tips on contacting faculty members.  

• First and Second Year Entry Scholars: You are invited and encouraged to get involved in research before you are ready to decide on a thesis topic and supervisor. Follow the steps below—minus the thesis piece—to get some initial research experience and meet faculty members.

Find a Thesis Supervisor

During the Fall semester of your third year, find a faculty member who will mentor you as your Thesis Supervisor.  

• Think about CSD instructors you know who have research labs.
• Look at the research interests of CSD faculty  (click on View Full Bio) and our current research projects .
• When you want to learn more, email the faculty member and ask if you can make an appointment or come to their office hours to talk about research.
• During the conversation, explain that you are a Schreyer Scholar seeking a thesis opportunity, and talk about common interests with the faculty member.  
• You may need to talk to two or three people, but you’ll soon find someone with whom you can work.

What if you want to work with a Thesis Supervisor who is not a CSD faculty member? It is possible—talk to your Honors Adviser if you are considering this pathway, because advance planning and approvals are needed. The most common scenarios are:

• CSD is your area of honors (to be approved by the CSD Honors Adviser) and your thesis topic is appropriate for CSD but is supervised by a faculty member in another department; or
• CSD is your major but your area of honors and Thesis Supervisor are in another department (only if the honors advisor in that department agrees to be the approver for your thesis). 

Start learning

Your Thesis Supervisor will guide you through their own training process and show you how you can contribute to their lab.  

Thesis proposal

The SHC requires submission of a thesis proposal one year before you intend to graduate (for most people, this is due in the Spring semester of their junior/third year). Check the SHC thesis web site for instructions on how to prepare and submit the proposal.

There are different types of theses:

• Literature review
• Analysis of group data (collected by you, or already existing)
• There are other possibilities... discuss with your Thesis Supervisor and Honors Adviser.

Honors thesis credits

The SHC allows you to receive up to 6 credits of honors credit for completing your thesis. For students seeking honors in CSD, these credits are obtained by taking CSD 494H. You can’t enroll for the course on LionPATH; you must request to be enrolled using the online request form . See your Honors Adviser for more information.  

Get to work

With the help of your Thesis Supervisor, identify the steps necessary to complete the thesis, such as a literature review, data collection, data analysis, and writing each section of the thesis. Make a timeline with subgoals that will get you to your big goal of submitting your completed thesis on time. Again, use the SHC resources  and watch for events like writing workshops.  

• Check the SHC and the SRS system for important due dates.
• Follow the SHC formatting guide (found on the thesis webpage).
• Within that format, follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide . There are many online resources to help you with APA style.
• Your thesis should be a scholarly work that adds knowledge in the field of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Know your deadlines

Meet key SHC deadlines  during your semester of graduation.  Format review is usually about 2 months before the end of the semester, and final thesis submission is about 1 month before the end of the semester.

Creating your thesis will be challenging but fulfilling!  You will learn more than you expect, so remember to enjoy the process!  

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Department of History

Undergraduate

GUIDELINES & SCHEDULE OF KEY DATES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY HONORS THESIS

The Schreyer Honors College has a description of the honors thesis and offers advice about how to choose a topic, find an adviser, and budget one’s time (located at  https://www.shc.psu.edu/academic/thesis/  ).

The Honors College describes the thesis as  “a scholarly piece of writing in which the writer is expected to show a command of the relevant scholarship in his (or her) field and contribute to the scholarship. It should confront a question that is unresolved and push towards a resolution.”

The thesis is likely to be one of the most challenging and rewarding assignments of a student’s undergraduate career. For history students, this is an opportunity to actually write history and personally address what history is and means. In the process of pursuing a topic, conducting independent research, formulating, articulating and crafting a sustained argument, students will build on what they have learned in coursework, gain insights into historical scholarship and methodology, and develop their talents as writers and thinkers. Once the thesis is completed students will have the satisfaction of knowing they have produced a work of scholarship that will be permanently archived in the Schreyer’s (electronic) thesis archive and the Penn State Library system.

The History Department expects honors theses to be based on thorough research and to offer an original interpretation.  Students are required to undertake a meaningful degree of primary source research in crafting the thesis.

The nature and extent of the primary research may vary according to the question pursued and the field of study. Students are also expected to situate their research and analysis within the scholarship of the field and to clearly articulate and support the significance of their project and its contribution. Students whose work involves extensive primary research should be careful not simply to present a narrative or an inventory of their sources, but to center the thesis on the analysis and interpretation of their research in such a way that their thesis makes an argument. Advisers should help determine the appropriate balance between primary research and scholarly contextualization, between presentation of the evidence and interpretation.

A History thesis is expected to be between  approximately 50-80 pages of text  (300 words/page), plus the bibliography and notes. The text must be double-spaced with one-inch margins.

Think of your thesis in terms of chapters. Each chapter is a subtopic related to the whole. A chapter should present an argument supported by evidence; it could almost stand alone as a research paper, but as a chapter, it should establish its connection to the larger argument and/or preceding and succeeding chapters at least at the beginning and the end. As a ballpark figure:  you should envision the thesis as being comprised of three, or maybe four, substantive chapters—with, in addition, a shorter “introduction” and perhaps an “epilogue.”

You must use footnotes or endnotes to identify the source of every quotation and every idea, conclusion, or inference you have drawn from the work of another author or source.  Advisers serve as a resource if there are any doubts about whether or not to cite something.

Choose the form of the footnotes or endnotes ONLY after close consultation with, and the approval of, your thesis supervisor. Make sure to be consistent in your footnoting/endnoting formatting. Consult a guide such as the  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations ;  The Chicago Manual of Style ; Kate Turabian,  A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations ; Richard Marius,  A Short Guide to Writing About History .

Bibliography

The thesis must include a complete bibliography citing all the materials used for the thesis. See the above sources for format.

Style and Usage

The thesis is a formal piece of scholarly writing. Do not use colloquial expressions or contractions. Remember that the thesis is important—it is a source of pride and will be archived electronically (for all to read!). Go over the final draft and correct awkward phrasing; be sure to eliminate all errors in typing, spelling, and grammar.

Schedule of Key Dates & “Check-Points” for the History Honors Thesis

Three terms before graduation (spring term of student’s junior year).

A SHC Thesis Proposal is due to the Schreyers Honors College in the spring term of the Junior year —  April  15, 2023  for those planning to graduate in Spring  2024.  For current due dates, see SHC webpage:  https://www.shc.psu.edu/academic/resources/dates.cfm  The SHC Thesis Proposal outlines the scope of the proposed research and any special needs the student might have to pursue this topic, such as the need to travel to archival collections, order microfilm, and so on.  It is a History Department requirement that your SHC April Thesis Proposal include a preliminary bibliography.

This proposal will be approved by the  honors adviser ; the  thesis supervisor  (that is—the Department faculty member who will be your primary adviser on the thesis (the honors adviser CANNOT also serve as the thesis supervisor)); and by the Schreyer’s Honors College.

This means the student must have a fairly well defined topic and a committed thesis supervisor  one full year  before the thesis is due.

It is incumbent upon the student—in the months preceding the time of submission of Thesis Proposal Report—to identify and approach a faculty member of the History Department as a potential thesis supervisor , someone whose field is directly relevant. Ideally, this is someone whom the student already knows and has already taken a class with. The student should explain their research interests and ask the faculty member to serve as thesis supervisor.

As you think about which faculty member(s) might serve as your thesis supervisor it is wise to consult with your honors adviser.  Narrowing down your list of potential thesis supervisors should really be done, at the latest, around the mid-point of your Junior year  (to give you plenty of time to have preliminary conversations).

As required, all theses should be read and reviewed by the thesis supervisor, the History Department’s honors adviser, and, if applicable, a secondary reader.

There are many opportunities to apply for scholarships to study abroad and to conduct thesis research in the summer of the junior year (Penn State Erickson Summer Discovery Grants, Schreyer’s and Paterno summer research funding, History Department Study Abroad Scholarships, and the like). All Schreyer’s Honors College students are strongly encouraged to apply for such funding in order to pursue thesis research full-time over the summer of their junior year.

One Year before Graduation

The student will be enrolled in the equivalent of two terms of independent study (the honors adviser will be your formal instructor for these two courses); however the preeminent thesis advising role will be carried out by the thesis supervisor.

Register for  HISTORY 494  (first (usually fall) term of thesis research/writing) and  HISTORY 494H  (second (usually spring) term of thesis research/writing). The honors adviser will also arrange for regular meetings and workshops with all students enrolled in 494 and 494H.  By registering for the 494/494H sequence, students will earn 6 credits total (only 3 credits of which are Honors credits) for writing their thesis.

General Advice: The more time the readers have to read the student’s work the better they can comment, and the more the student can benefit from their expertise. Expect the need for significant revisions. Be considerate of your supervisor’s busy schedule and recognize the constraints of your own schedule. Try to complete sections of the thesis ahead of the suggested schedule—the sooner you have a complete draft, the better.

HISTORY 494 (FALL TERM OF STUDENT’S SENIOR YEAR)

The student should start with a clear subject of interest and have already begun to read the relevant scholarship and investigate the primary sources (over the summer between their Junior year and Senior fall).

In mid-September of the Senior year, the student is required—for the first meaningful “check-point”—to submit an EXPANDED THESIS PROPOSAL, which will also include an outline, an in-progress bibliography (including substantial primary and secondary sources), more specifics on the layout and sequences of the chapters, and a firm, specific schedule of chapter completion dates, to the honors adviser. 

The Expanded Thesis Proposal must demonstrate that the student has made significant substantive progress in researching/conceptualizing the thesis since the SHC Thesis Proposal provided the previous spring term.

Only those students whose “expanded proposals” are successfully reviewed—as determined by the thesis supervisor and the honors adviser—will be allowed to continue in the thesis writing process.

Regarding the second meaningful “check-point”: no later than the a week prior to the last week of classes in the Senior thesis-writer’s first term (so typically no later than the first week of December), the student must have completed …

• A POLISHED, CREDIBLE DRAFT OF ONE CHAPTER (of approx. 20 pages or more);
• a detailed outline of the next chapter draft slated to be written (and preferably all subsequent chapters);
• a substantial working bibliography. It is strongly recommended that a second chapter be completed in December. The thesis supervisor may require this of a student.

Take note that this deadline for a “polished chapter draft” is firm and non-negotiable.

The student will receive a grade from the thesis supervisor (then passed along and recorded by the honors adviser) for  History 494  based on the quality of the student’s chapter draft, the quality of the next-slated chapter’s outline, and bibliography.

Only those students determined to have satisfactorily completed the specified tasks noted in the paragraph just above—at this end-of-History 494 juncture—will be allowed to move along into History 494H and continue in the thesis writing process. This determination will be made by the student’s thesis supervisor, in close consultation with the honors adviser.

HISTORY 494H (SPRING TERM OF STUDENT’S SENIOR YEAR)

To be eligible to take—and pass—History 494H, the thesis writer must be in residence for this term. Schreyers Honors College annual deadlines are here: https://www.shc.psu.edu/academic/resources/dates.cfm .

The following schedule offers a guide for spring term (the Senior thesis writer’s final undergraduate term): the first third of the thesis should be finished one to two (1-2) weeks into the term; the second third should be finished three to five (3-5) weeks into the term; the final third should be finished six to seven (6-7) weeks into the term (so before Spring Break); thus reserving weeks seven to ten (7-10) of the term to revise the Introduction and Conclusion and to make revisions to the chapters read and commented on by the thesis supervisor (and second reader).

[REGARDING THE SECOND READER: Schreyer’s and History Department rules require that—as a minimal condition for thesis approval—the  student’s thesis supervisor and the history honors adviser both provide their respective signatures  each attesting to the rigor and scholarly merits of the submitted thesis.

A  second reader  is another PSU faculty member, who has specialized knowledge in the thesis topic, and agrees— by the request of the student and/or the thesis supervisor / honors adviser—to read the thesis draft and offers constructive guidance and advice. The second reader provides a helpful supplementary role, and the History Department encourages thesis writers to seek out, and garner the advice of, an appropriate second reader.

A second reader, then, is not required for thesis approval , but, again, such input is greatly encouraged. It is recommended that the student contact the intended second reader no later than the second month of the final semester.]

The student will receive a grade from the thesis supervisor (then passed along and recorded by the honors adviser) for  History 494H  based on the quality of the student’s thesis as well as the student’s participation in meetings, workshops, and the student’s research presentation at the Undergraduate History Conference.

THESIS WRITERS: be mindful that all students are  required  to present their thesis research findings  at one  of the two annual Undergraduate History Department conferences. These conferences are held every year in early December and late March.

A faculty panel, along with members of the audience, will comment and ask questions of the student presenter.

This presentation will count as the “defense” of the thesis.

Submitting the Thesis

A complete draft of the History Honors Thesis must be filed with the Schreyers Honors College in mid-March as part of a format review.  We will have a coordinated single deadline for both the History Department and Schreyer’s Honors College draft thesis review. When students submit their thesis to the SHC, they should also plan to submit a complete full first draft for review to their thesis supervisor, the honors adviser (and, if applicable, second reader) for critical feedback.

Students should also electronically submit a copy of their complete first draft, firstly, to the thesis supervisor and also the honors adviser. The thesis must meet the approval of the thesis supervisor, the honors adviser, (and second reader, if relevant)  before final submission to Schreyer’s Honors College.

The History Department upholds rigorous standards for the Honors Thesis and a thesis may not be approved if it is not deemed up to those standards.

Only those students whose thesis is successfully reviewed in March will be allowed to file a thesis. If the student’s thesis is deemed insufficiently developed, the student may be asked to defer graduation or to forego graduating with honors.

In early April, the final version of the thesis must be filed with the Schreyers Honors College.

The next day a signatory page with the signatures of the thesis supervisor and the honors adviser (and the second reader, if relevant) must be filed with the Schreyer’s Honors College. It is your responsibility to make the appropriate arrangements with your thesis supervisor and honors advisers to carry out the signatures—and to do so in a timely and respectful manner.

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Honors Thesis

All Schreyer Scholars and Paterno Fellows are required to complete an undergraduate honors thesis. The honors thesis is one of the most challenging and rewarding assignments of a student’s undergraduate career. This is an opportunity to formulate and complete original research that adds to our understanding of the social and political world.

In the process of pursuing a topic, conducting independent research, formulating, articulating and crafting a sustained argument, students will build on what they have learned in coursework, gain insights into empirical social science scholarship and methodology, and develop their talents as writers and thinkers. Once the thesis is completed students will have the satisfaction of knowing they have produced a work of scholarship that will be permanently archived in the  Penn State Library system .

Honors Thesis FAQ

You can find electronic versions of completed theses here .

The honors thesis must be approved by the student’s thesis adviser and his/her honors adviser.

The thesis adviser is a faculty member who will supervise your honors thesis. You will meet with your thesis adviser on a regular basis during the thesis writing process. It is your responsibility to secure a thesis adviser by the end of your junior year. The honors adviser is a faculty member who is assigned to you on entry into the Schreyer Honors College. The honors adviser is there to help you navigate your academic life and achieve your goals at Penn State. While you can discuss your thesis with your honors adviser, most of your interactions during the thesis writing process will be with your thesis adviser. Both your thesis adviser and honors adviser must approve your thesis.

Most Schreyer scholars do not begin looking for a thesis adviser until their junior year when they start to think about potential topics for their honors thesis. It is often a good idea to have taken courses with potential thesis advisers so that you can get to know them and they can get to know you. Most students arrange to meet with potential thesis advisers to talk about their proposed thesis topic. After you have discussed your potential thesis topic with several faculty members, you must get one of them to agree to act as your thesis adviser. It is your responsibility to secure a thesis adviser by the end of your junior year.

The nature and extent of the research conducted in an honors thesis will vary depending on the question being examined and the field of study. That said, most honors theses typically include the following five sections:

• Introduction . This is where you provide a clear statement of your research question and why it is substantively and/or theoretically important. The introduction can also provide a brief overview of your main claims or results
• Literature Review . Most theses will have a literature review. This is where you situate your research question in the larger literature. Has your research question been addressed before? Are there conflicting results? What do you hope to contribute to the existing literature on your research topic? Do you plan to advance existing research with new data, new theory, and/or new methods? The literature review can also help to highlight why your research question is important. The literature review can be written as its own separate section in the thesis, or it can be incorporated into the Introduction or Theory sections.
• Theory:  The theory section sets out your answer to the research question that motivates your honors thesis. In this section, you will define your theoretical concepts and specify your hypotheses. Hypotheses are observable implications of your theory.
• Empirics:  In this section, you will evaluate the empirical evidence in support of your theory. This evaluation could involve things like case studies, textual analysis, or statistical analyses. Among other things, you will discuss how you operationalized your theoretical concepts.
• Conclusion . This is where you summarize your major research findings, identify the limitations of your research, and discusses why your findings are a contribution to the existing scholarly literature.

You can find additional information about the general structure of an honors thesis here .

Most theses in Political Science and International Politics are between 25 and 40 pages. Those using case studies or other non-quantitative approaches are often longer. Specific information on how to format and submit your final thesis can be found here .

Only students in the Schreyer Honors College can write a thesis. You must be admitted to Schreyer as an incoming  freshman , through the  Paterno Fellows Program , or through the  Gateway program . Paterno Fellows is most appropriate for University Park freshmen and the junior gate for sophomores and some juniors transferring from other institutions or other campuses, although it may be appropriate for others as well.

To write a thesis in Political Science or International Politics you must have a Thesis Proposal Report (TPR) accepted and signed by a thesis adviser and one of the honors advisers in the Political Science Department.  You must be a Political Science or International Politics major and have completed PL SC 300H (see below).  If you were admitted to Schreyer through the Paterno Fellows Program or Gateway program you are expected to complete your thesis in the department that admitted you; if you were admitted by a different department and want to write a Political Science or International Politics thesis you must complete the same requirements as other students admitted to Political Science through the Paterno Fellows Program.  Details of these requirements are available on the  Paterno Fellows page .

Yes, there are two specific courses you need to take:  

Political Science 300H: An Introduction to Thesis Research.

This three-credit course should be taken in your junior year. The class is generally only taught in the Fall semester. This course is used to develop a thesis topic and to help you find a thesis adviser. If you think you will not be able to take 300H because of study abroad in your junior year or some other reason, you should consult with your honors adviser about alternative classes or whether you should take it in your sophomore year.

Political Science 309: Quantitative Political Analysis .

This course introduces students to quantitative analysis and the use of a statistical program (in most cases, R) . The course should be taken in your sophomore year .  

In your senior year you have the option to take   

Political Science 306H: Senior Thesis Writing Workshop

This is a year-long workshop that meets once a week in your senior year. If you take this course you should enroll in 1.5 credits each semester. This course is designed to help you make progress with your thesis as you collect data, complete analyses, and write up the final draft.

This course is controlled with a limited enrollment. If you and your thesis advisor think this course is a good addition to your thesis writing experience you should complete this short survey by April 15, 2022.  

Finally, all seniors writing an honors thesis should enroll in 3 credits of Political Science 494H: Independent Research. If you are taking PLSC 306H you should enroll in 3 credits of 494H in Spring semester. If you are not taking 306H you can enroll in up to 6 credits of 494H. These are independent research credits. 

• Sophomore year: Complete Political Science 309: Quantitative Political Analysis.
• Junior year: Complete Political Science 300H: An Introduction to Thesis Research. Find a thesis adviser and submit a Thesis Proposal Report.
• Senior Year: Write your honors thesis. Enroll in Political Science 306H: Senior Thesis Writing Workshop for the entire year and if you and your advisor want you to and you are selected for the course. You should also enroll in Political Science 494H: Independent Research.